Choosing the first growth channel for an early startup
Members of the Growth work group compare product-channel fit, 90-day tests, SEO's slow clock and marketplace math.
Updated
Pick a channel the product can feed, test it with one narrow segment on a set budget and date, and judge it by users who reach value and come back.
- Let the product draw up the shortlist. Brian Balfour would start from product-channel fit: virality needs a short time to value, user-generated SEO needs users who create useful pages, and paid needs enough revenue per customer to cover acquisition. Casey Winters would shortlist channels by what the product already produces, as Grubhub's restaurant listings and Pinterest's boards did for search.
- Narrow the customer before the channel. Brian would define one narrow customer group and where it already looks for answers, then watch each person reach first value before the data can show a retention curve. Hila Qu would rank channels by impact, confidence and effort, so SEO can have the biggest upside and still be a poor first test if it can't show results in 90 days. Luc Levesque would write down how first customers discover the problem and test where they already show intent.
- A short test may not size a channel. Luc would separate the decision to invest from the revenue deadline, since new search content can take a quarter or more to move. Gustaf Alströmer suggests running the smallest test that checks the customer path, then deciding whether a large platform deserves a longer horizon.
- Cost both sides together, and find where users drop off. For a marketplace, Casey would test both sides of one small market and add up the cost of the restaurant and the diner, since one order has to pay for both. Hila would find where people drop off by channel before calling one a failure.
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Growth
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a founder check first when growth stalls?
That the data is right, then cohort retention split by segment and channel. If curves trend toward zero in every slice, fix the product before spending more on acquisition.
How do you tell a growth problem from a product problem?
Bring in a small batch of users from one clean channel and read their cohorts. If they activate and return but there aren't many, it's distribution. If they leave within the first week, product owns the fix.
What moves activation in a new user's first few days?
Find where users drop, then match the lever: pre-answer setup for users who stall, make the first action an earned win for users who feel nothing, and bring back users who got value.
Who should own acquisition and retention, growth or marketing?
Most members would split near signup, with marketing on channels and the promise and growth on the path to first value. The line still has to follow the growth model, and both teams judge channels by the cohorts that stay.
Should a growth team report to product or marketing?
Wherever the biggest lever is. For most product-led companies that is product, next to core rather than inside it, and once paid spend matters too, one growth leader owns acquisition and activation.
Which lifecycle emails should a team build first?
The ones aimed at the steepest drop on the retention curve, usually the activation email. Depth and renewal emails come next, and win-back to fully churned users comes last.
How do you bring back signups who went quiet?
Watch a few try the next step and fix where they stall, then test the message with and without the fix against a holdout, and count retained use rather than opens.
When should a product-led company add sales?
A founder can start working accounts where usage is spreading and retaining. A sales team follows once deals need security reviews and procurement that self-serve can't handle.
Which self-serve accounts should a sales rep call?
Ones big enough to pay for a rep's time, with use spreading inside the company and a need self-serve can't meet. Hold some flagged accounts back to check that sales added value.
Which early action should count as activation?
Use two measures: an early action onboarding can move as the team's operating metric, and a later repeat action to check that those users came back. Randomize the onboarding change so motivated users don't skew the read.
What makes a good north star metric for an early product?
A retention measure built from how often the problem occurs, the action that solves it and the user it describes, with activation as an input. Drop it if the team can raise it without users getting more value.
Should a new marketplace build supply or demand first?
Whichever side gets a buyer to a completed transaction while giving the supplier a reason to stay. Start in one narrow market and track matches, supplier earnings and repeat buyers.
When can a marketplace copy its first city?
When service holds after subsidies come down, a new manager can run the launch playbook without the founders, and the team knows whether the channel behind market one's demand starts warm or cold in the next market.
How should you test a landing page?
Show visitors what they searched for before the ask, start with the page's first clear funnel drop, and count activated users per visitor alongside signups.
Should a startup with a few dozen users stop acquisition?
Stop broad acquisition but keep a small hand-picked flow from one segment, onboard those users live, and count only return visits nobody prompted.
How does a B2B startup find its first paying customers?
Have founders sell by hand to one narrow buyer, starting with warm intros and asking for payment early. Then check who actually paid, and at what price, before choosing a channel to scale.
